<p>I just got my ACT’s back, and now I’ve 6 months to beef up and top off my application.</p>
<p>As it stands now:</p>
<p>ACT Composite: 36</p>
<p>AP Tests: English Language (5), Calculus BC (5), Physics B (5), US History (5)</p>
<p>Class Rank: 5</p>
<p>GPA: 3.9</p>
<p>Extracurriculars: Class President, 1st chair trombone in wind ensemble, band president, thespian, debate team captain</p>
<p>Well? I understand that a big part of the application is the essay, but other than that, is there anything I can do this summer and fall to make Chicago more realizable for me?</p>
<p>Otherwise, what other schools should I be looking at, that I might have a better chance of getting into?</p>
<p>Apply EA, call around mid-oct and tell them it’s your first choice (if it is). I don’t think my essay was particularly good, just honest and heartfelt. </p>
<p>I think calling my counselor and telling her UChicago was my #1 definitely bumped me up (she said she would write down that I contacted and said that on my application…)</p>
<p>What I think you should do is work on some soul-searching and try to draft a list of colleges that work for you and your academic/extracurricular/social interests. You should make sure that the schools you apply to are schools you are seriously considering attending. From there, you will probably be able to communicate your interest in the school much more articulately.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that Chicago is far from one size fits all, even for top-performing students like yourself. If I were you, I would spend some time researching the school a little bit more to consider whether or not it is a fit for you first before deciding that it is on your list.</p>
<p>I second Unalove’s suggestion that you do some soul-searching. Once you’ve got all your numbers in order, that’s all you can do. I know that my minor obsessions with the colleges I applied to definitely helped me on the essays. So I suggest, browse through colleges, and see which ones you fall in love with. Otherwise, yeah, chill.</p>
<p>Sorry for coming off a little . . . aggressive? overbearing? flat?</p>
<p>Some background: Chicago is my ultimate dream school, and has been for a LONG time. I first discovered them back in winter of freshman year, in connection with Friedrich Hayek (I’ve dabbled in following Austrian economics for a while), and the more I learn about the school, the more I’m fascinated by it.</p>
<p>The history, the legacy of the school really attracted me. The Chicago School (of Econ), the Chicago Boys, Friedman, all that really captured my imagination. I’ve always been a very idiosyncratic student, and I really like the quirky nature (or at least reputation) of Chicago.</p>
<p>I guess I want to go to Chicago because as a school it seems to stand out and stand apart so much. I want to be different, and I want to go to a school that’s different.</p>
<p>But then, I’m afraid that the real Chicago isn’t like the image of it that I’ve built up in my mind. I’m afraid of getting there, and realizing it’s a little more like any other top college and a little less than my imagined hotbed of intellectual rebellion.</p>
<p>That’s my soul, as it stands. Whereto, now?</p>
<p>I visited once last fall, and in the spring on one of their information days. I’m planning on going sometime this summer, for an interview, and I might be visiting in the early fall and seeing if I can get into some classes and dorms.</p>
<p>I really liked what I saw, but I felt like they were being a little reserved on the information day.</p>
<p>I hope I can get a chance to talk to either some admissions officers or professors when I visit either this summer or fall, just to confirm what I’ve heard and seen of the university.</p>